Lifestyle, Travel, Food & Culture

Location

Sunset on Lake Ngwazi, Mufindi district.

Mafinga, my home for the year – which lies in the Mufindi district, part of the Iringa Region of Tanzania. Mafinga lies just south of the equator and it is breathtakingly beautiful, as are the country’s people.

Mafinga is quite similar to Scotland in many ways, such as Climate and Scenery. Mufindi is set in the Southern Highlands which are part of the East Arc Rift valley. From the Rift Valley escarpment to flat land below there is a 2000ft drop. The area is covered with tea plantations interspersed with darker green natural rain forest home to monkeys and birds, most audibly the Livingstone’s Turraco.

Ruaha National Park, Tanzania’s second largest park, and in addition to Ruaha other attractions in Iringa are the beaches of Lake Nyasa in Ludewa district, Udzungwa National Park, which has some of Tanzania’s best mountain views, and Isimila Stone Age which has relics of interest to the historically-inclined. There are additionally a large number of natural caves and caverns in the regions as well as Lulanda national forest, which is famous for Colobus Monkeys and the Mpanga – Kipenge reserve in Njombe district.

The area is predominantly tea growing, but there is also a significant amount of subsistance agriculture in the villages. Traditional skills such as brick making, pit sawing, and basket weaving are evident as you wander through the villages.